The Pact(109)

I hear his pants unzip and, after a moment, he presses his warm cock against my thighs. “Oh, I’ll show you pushy.”

He puts a hand between my shoulder blades and pushes me forward. I’m grateful that my hair is groomed back and shellacked with hairspray, completely out of the way, but even so I arch my neck so it won’t get ruined. And if it does, so fucking what.

He can ruin me all he wants.

Linden teases me with his finger, soft and gentle and needy, before he eases himself into me. In the dark, with my sight gone, my other senses are heightened. I can feel every inch of him as he pushes in, slowly, until his whole length is deep inside me. Then I feel every inch as he teasingly pulls out. His breath is hot in the dark, and loud, and the occasionally groan is borderline animalistic. I feel like I’m being fucked by a stranger but a stranger that I love.

Because I love Linden more than I can say.

When we’re all done, my cries muffled into our guests’ coats, he slides out of me. There’s a tiny part of me that hopes his seed is still in me – after all, he fucked himself so hard and deep, I felt he’d never come out. Not that I want children right away but I do want them someday. We both do.

“I guess you can’t tell me if I look okay,” I say, catching my breath as the afterglow warms through me. I still pat half-heartedly around my updo, making sure no hairs are wildly out of place.

“You look beautiful,” he says, kissing my cheeks delicately. “I don’t need light to see that.” He grabs my hand. “Well, baby blue. Are you ready to become husband and wife?”

“Yes, cowboy, I am,” I tell him. “And if I knew where to kiss you, I would.”

“You can always find me,” he says and with gentle fingers on my jaw, he leads my mouth toward his where he gently places his lips on mine. “Even in the dark.”

I return his kiss slowly, not wanting it to end. But time is running out on this stage of our relationship and if I know the crowd at all, they are getting restless. I sigh. “So…”

“I guess I should go first,” he says, sounding resigned.

“Just another hour,” I tell him, “then we’ll be together.” The hardest part of this whole wedding has not been the dress or the venue or the seating chart, but not being able to see Linden for a day or two. Considering he’s not only my betrothed but my best friend, it’s hard not to be able to have him with me every single step of the way. That’s why I knew meeting him in the closet, blindfolded, was more out of reassurance than anything else. Besides, we do plenty of kinky shit at home.

I can hear Linden smile in the dark. He kisses my forehead, squeezes my hand and leaves. I feel the air withdraw from the small room and the door shut behind him. I wait a few minutes, enough time for him to disappear, before I take off my blindfold and step outside.

Someone, I think one of my older cousins on my dad’s side, sees me from the end of the hallway. She looks puzzled at where I’ve come out of. I shrug. “This isn’t the bathroom,” I say to her, gesturing to the cloakroom in fake confusion. She looks vaguely horrified and moves on.

I sigh and then go to the actual bathroom on that floor, making sure that I look as perfect as my hair and makeup artist intended. The reflection staring back at me is a bit flushed but she is glowing. She is happy.

Before Linden proposed to me, I felt like everything in my life was just hanging in the balance. Leaving him in New York and going back to my normal, empty life was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do, but for the sake of paying bills, and protecting my heart, I didn’t really have a choice. Of course, I had left Linden a few texts checking up on him but knowing he was in the hospital, I wasn’t surprised that he didn’t respond.

Bram responded though. He filled me in on Linden’s progress but he never once hinted that Linden was moving back here or that he was even helping him. I was totally in the dark until I saw Linden enter The Burgundy Lion, all beat up and bruised and on crutches.

Ironically, I was out with Owen. It was our second date, something I didn’t even want but I felt so bad about bailing on the first one. I guess the second one didn’t go too well either. Not many dates end with an accepted marriage proposal – to someone else. Let’s just chalk it up to Owen’s karma.

But the minute I saw my battered, broken Linden come toward me and plead his heart out, I knew that he was finally fighting. He was fighting for me. And I believed and trusted in his love. It was real, raw and true. I’m sure some might have considered it a risk after what had happened between us, but I knew the reward would be too sweet not to risk it.